This post contains no specific plot spoilers for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, but if you haven’t read or seen it, you probably shouldn’t read this yet. Spoilers for Dorohedoro chapter 18/episode 6.
Demon Slayer aged gracefully in my memory considering it under-delivered on my expectations at nearly every step. Fan fiction has done heavy lifting to distract me, but one of the cardinal sins of the story (aside from the infantilization and literal muzzling of Nezuko, the fact that Tanjiro is a perfect Bodhisattva who never has to change, and the unsatisfying power system) has sat unfettered in my conscience since I finished it. Why did they use the flashbacks like they did?
To be clear, I’m not upset with the presence of the flashbacks, or their quantity. I’m upset with how one-dimensional they felt in the toolbox of the story. I would have been happier in the end if they just didn’t happen in the first place. This is not because I think they are irredeemable. Rather, it’s because I found that the placement of flashbacks just prior to defeats clogged the story with scraps of piteous empathy where there could have been feasts of raw, complex emotion. Especially since it happened every. single. time.
Tanjiro didn’t know any of their human motives before he forgave them. His place in heaven would still be secure if their pasts weren’t revealed. The other Hashira, along with Inosuke (praise be!) and Zenitsu (*throws a tomato at the stage*) received few to no glances at these inner landscapes. So why are they there? Who, besides the demons, was this for?
I’ll Take “Trust Issues” for 500, Alex
The readers. The flashbacks were for us, to wring us out and MAKE us care, instead of guiding us to come to our own conclusions. When it’s not irksome, it’s numbing. As an even worse consequence, when a flashback appears before the end of every violent conflict, the reader is trained to know that the conflict won’t be over until they see the flashback. Once I learned this pattern, Demon Slayer contained fewer stakes than a Transylvanian mansion. It taught me in advance that there would be no surprises.
This is not to say I’m the kind of person who approves of writing that puts twists above all else. I find a lips-sealed obsession with spoilers to be self-defeating. It’s led to such absurdities as film production companies hiding a full script from the actors they hired to act it. That mindset has a remarkable lack of trust in peoples’ ability to enjoy things they already know about. If you’re not trusting your audience, you might be patronizing them.
Biting the Hand that Reads You
For example, it is patronizing to be shown why I should care that a character is going to die right before they do. If this event was worth caring about, it is worth building up to it in earnest. As a thought experiment, think about the plot of Demon Slayer. If you haven’t finished the manga or are anime-only, think of what you’ve seen so far. Now try to imagine what the story would look like if we received in-depth scenes from the point of view of the Demon Moons as they interact with Muzan and each other, as they face the Hashira and struggle for their own values and pasts. Sounds interesting, right?
I don’t think it would require us to empathize with them to the point of compromising the story’s morals. It doesn’t change that they kill humans and enact horrendous torture and cruelty. However, the tiniest seed of insight into their private lives would be present, and this is what Demon Slayer lacks. We see 95% of the demon activity through the eyes of those who kill them as they try in earnest to do just that. Because of this, empathy garnered towards them feels last-minute, condescending, and pitying. I’d rather not pry open their memories just prior to their prompt and permanent removal from the mortal coil.
When is a Flashback More than a Flashback?
As a contrast, I’d like to bring up an example I think about a lot. In chapter 18 of Dorohedoro, doctors Vaux and Kasukabe discuss Shin’s past. They detail his trauma and his relationship to the hospital. There are several notable functions at work:
- Shin is not present and the delivery of backstory is not framed within his point of view, leading to the flashback feeling organic and its entry point natural;
- Shin’s backstory develops Kasukabe, Vaux, and Shin himself, as well as revealing a glimpse of Nikaido’s past;
- It builds context for Hole’s history, its violent relationship with magic users, and the Hospital’s presence and influence;
- It also establishes a number of possible options for plot branches (which Dorohedoro follows up on later);
- When we later learn about how Shin met Noi just after the events of this backstory, we can easily intuit why their meeting was so important, since he would have died without her given the state he was in;
- Because his backstory had a concrete impact on the way the world looks in the present moment, events that relate to the changing state of the world begin to feel connected to the characters, even if they have nothing to do with Shin’s past. We sense a vibrant possibility that any one of them could be hiding a secret that’s key to the bigger picture. This builds all the way through the final reveals and climaxes of the story.
Clearly one of Q Hayashida’s strengths is weaving complicated timelines in digestible formats. It feels as though the chapter emerged because it was the most necessary choice of path, whereas the flashbacks in Demon Slayer feel like someone’s reverse-engineering the impact they want the audience to experience.
Conclusions and Disclaimers
I’m not sure if there is a clean takeaway to improve one’s own writing here. I’ll settle for a messy one. While I find its delivery analogous to chewing packing peanuts, many people love the same aspects of Demon Slayer that I’ve critiqued and would outright disagree with my opinion. “More thoughtful” writing isn’t necessary if your goal isn’t to write the most poignant story you can, one that asks many questions and attempts to address them. That just happens to be what I prioritize. A huge variety of stories with different degrees of complexity sell out shelves and inspire readers all the time.
Also, as someone who has not been in the high-pressure environment of weekly manga releases, I do not blame any mangaka for making choices like this. Who is to say the story wouldn’t have been written differently given a more relaxed schedule? My feelings on Demon Slayer as a writer trying to better my craft are separate from my understanding of labor conditions and my regard and respect towards those who write in professional environments.
That doesn’t mean I have to stop being salty about fans accepting writers’ choices without question, though.
Are you a fan whose opinion will make me salty? Tell me your takes in the comments, or shout directly at my email inbox. For another thorough discussion of Demon Slayer‘s flashbacks, check out this post by Jackson P. Brown (spoilers for specific plot points in late-game Demon Slayer and One Piece).